Rent
by Kaccee
Summary: Based on the musical RENT by Johnathan Larson. The war is over...things have definately changed. Our favorite characters learn that lives that are intertwined never untangle themselves. Features Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Dean, Luna, Cho and Colin
1. Rent

Mark Cohen – Ron Weasley

Roger Davis - Harry Potter

Mimi Marquez – Hermione 'Mimi' Granger

Benjamin Coffin III – Draco Malfoy II

Maureen Johnson – Luna Lovegood

Joanne Jefferson – Cho Chang

Tom Collins – Dean Thomas

Angel Dumont Schunard – Colin 'Angel' Creevey

Prologue

The war is over. The entire Wizarding community has been rebuilding itself for the past eight years. Hermione disappeared right after the war and left Ron and Harry to themselves. In the last year of the war Draco Malfoy turned into a double agent, aiding in the efforts of the Order. Since the Order ran out of money, Harry gave all of his to its disposal. He is now broke. Once the war ended, Ron discovered movies, and the new Wizarding Video Camera or Wideo Camera quickly filled his expectations. Harry took up guitar, in hopes of making something of himself. He'd had enough of wars and fighting and decided against becoming an auror. Music became his life.

Harry and Ron moved into a flat with Dean Thomas, Draco Malfoy (who had become a close friend) and Ron's girlfriend, Luna Lovegood. Draco moved out once he married Lavender Brown. Lavender's family was one of the few rich wizarding families left. Draco took advantage of that.

Dean moved out too. He was offered a spot at the Magical Institute of Technology, or MIT, and has been off the radar for seven months. The boys haven't talked to him or seen him. Just like Hermione. Little is known of Hermione up to this point. Except that she's gone.

After the war, a strange wizarding disease was discovered, the Aquired Magic Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AMIDS. Much like AIDS in Muggles, this horrible disease kills off M-Cells (Magic Cells) in the blood of a wizard or witch. It makes them less immune to other magical disorders, diseases and spells. It started spreading quickly through the population.

And now without further ado is…

_**RENT**_

We begin on with me…I'm Ron, and my roommate, Harry. We live in a flat between 11th street and Avenue B in London. Our building opens up to Diagon Alley. This building used to be used by the Ministry of Magic as a storage facility…then it was used as a music publishing building. It's been abandoned for a while now. There are posters on the wall with Harry's old band on them, advertising gigs at the Broomstick Haunt and at Cow Wizards. (Don't ask me how they came up with that one…it was an experiment gone awry.) We have an unregistered fireplace that goes up to a broken skylight. All our power comes from one ratty old extension cord that snakes its way in from the hallway. Unfortunately at this point in time we have no heat. The owners of the building shut it off. A protest is in the works in the empty lot next door…the lot where all the homeless wizards in London are.

I turn to Harry, the purple light on my Wideo Camera flashing. "Smile!" I say. He scowls at me. Its December 24th, 9pm Greenwich Mean Time, from here on in I'm shooting without a script.

"First shot Harry." I say, smiling. "Tuning the Fender Guitar, he hasn't played in a year."

"This won't tune." Harry says in frustration as a string breaks and lets off an awful noise.

"So we hear." I remark, grinning at him. He just scowls again. I return to my wideo. "He's just coming back from half a year of withdrawal."

"Are you talking to me?"

"No, my camera. Are you ready? Hold that focus. Tell the folks at home what you're doing Harry!"

"I'm writing one great song…" Then the phone started to ring. Harry smiled.

"Saved."

"Not for long my friend. We're screening." The answering machine beeped and my mother's voice came through. I wanted to turn it off. I haven't talked to her in months. I just can't go home right now.

"That was a very loud beep. I don't even know if this is working. Ron – Ron are you there? I guess not…it's Mum. We wanted to call and say we love you and we'll miss you tomorrow, Ginny and the kids are here, send their love. OH! I hope you like the jumper! Just remember to hang it up to dry. Oh and Ron…we're sorry to hear that Luna dumped you. I say c'est la vie. So let her be a lesbian! There are other fishies in the sea dear…love Mum!"

I rolled my eyes and zoomed off the answering machine. I turned my lens back towards Harry. "Tell the folks at home what you're doing Harry!"

"I'm writing one great song…" Then the phone rang again. I frowned. This wasn't going as planned. Zooming in on the answering machine again I heard Harry mutter "Yes!" behind me as he turned back to his guitar.

"Chestnuts roasting…" Harry and I both looked at the phone. I grabbed it.

"Thomas!" We shouted together.

"I'm downstairs" Dean Thomas said over the line.

"Hey." I said smiling.

"Harry picked up the phone?"

"No it's me."

"Well throw down the key Weasel." I smiled to myself. He continued. "A wild night is now pre-ordained."

"Of course." I heard muffled noises in the background as Thomas groaned into the phone:

"I may be detained." He hung up. I turned off the phone and turned to Harry.

"What does he mean?" I asked. Harry shook his head. The phone rang again. I put it on speakerphone quickly, expecting it to be Dean. "What do you mean detained?" There was a pause at the end of the line before a voice I hadn't heard in awhile answered.

"Ho Ho Ho." Harry and I looked at each other again. We knew that voice.

"Draco."

"Shit." Harry said under his breath.

"Dudes I'm on my way." Draco said, his voice happy.

"Great…" I rolled my eyes.

"Fuck!" Harry said a little bit louder this time.

"I need the rent." Draco kept going.

"What rent?" I asked. Once Draco married Lavender, he bought our building. AND he told us we could stay there.

"This past year's rent that I let slide." He explained. I shook my head at the machine.

"Let slide? You said we were 'golden'."

"When you bought the building…" Harry led off.

"When we were roommates!" I finished. Harry glared at the phone and then put his face in his hands.

"Remember? You lived here." Harry tried to clarify. Not that Draco would not recall.

"How could I forget?" Draco chuckled. "You, me, Thomas and Luna…how is the drama queen?"

"She's performing tonight." I said, thinking of the empty lot next door where Luna had her protest planned.

"I know." Draco didn't sound too happy anymore. "Still her production manager?" I sighed.

"Two days ago I was bumped." Draco kept pressing.

"You still dating her?" I sighed again and shook my head.

"Last month I was dumped."

"She's in love." Harry said smiling.

"She's got a new man?" Draco sounded surprised. I don't know why. Luna was hot now. She'd really grown up since her fourth year…and I mean REALLY grown up.

"Well no…" Harry and I glanced at each other and couldn't help but laugh.

"What's his name?"

"Cho Chang." Harry and I said in unison.

"Rent my amigos is due, or I will have to evict you." Harry and I looked at each other and groaned. "Be there in a few."

Harry started to play again, and it was finally sounding like something real when.

BOOM

The power blew. The guitar stopped and all the lights went out.

"Oh fuck." I heard Harry mutter on the other side of the room.

"What a wonderful film…five minutes into it and the power blows." I said moodily as I shut of my camera. "How am I supposed to document real life when real life gets more like fiction everyday?" I heard Harry laugh behind me. "All these Headlines and bread-lines blow my mind and now Draco's giving us a deadline to pay him the fucking RENT!"

I stormed across the room and grabbed a firing barrel.

"You think you've got it bad?" Harry said in the dark. "How am I supposed to write a song, when the chords sound wrong."

"Dude, they weren't sounding right in the first place." I said. He growled from the corner.

"Get bent! These notes are all sour then Draco the asshole shuts off our power so I'll never get it right anyway. I was good once…god I'm hungry."

"I'm frozen." I sighed.

"Some life we've chosen hey? But honestly…how are we going to pay last year's rent?" I ignored him.

"Lets light candles." I said, hoping it would help me see. "Luminous…now where are those stupid candles?"

"We need to start a fire, but there's nothing to burn…and I think something's stuck in the flue." Harry had gotten up and headed towards the firing barrel. "INCENDIO!" he shouted, and flames burst up. "We need to find something to keep it going."

"We'll light up a mean blaze with…posters?" I grabbed some of the old band's posters off the wall and threw them into the barrel. Harry grabbed an old notebook from a full box.

"And screenplays. But seriously Ron…how are we going to pay the rent?" I again ignored him. I didn't want to think about Draco and those problems right now.

"Where's Thomas do you think?" I asked looking out the window at the cold London night.

"Probably picking up some hot guy or another." Harry picked up an old review of a documentary I did. "The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit." He smiled at me in the candlelight."

I picked up one of his poster with a review on it and read it out to him. "The music ignites the night with passionate fire. We really were good once, weren't we?"

"Can't live in the past." He replied simply. The phone rang. I slowly walked over, cautious to answer. "It might be Thomas." Harry suggested from the couch.

"Yea, but it might be Draco." I countered.

"Just answer the phone." Harry shot back. I picked it up.

"Hello?" On the other line was… "Luna? Your equipment won't work?" Harry rolled his eyes as my ex-girlfriend begged me to come help her. Her voice was getting more frantic and high-pitched and I finally yelled out "OKAY, ALRIGHT, I'LL GO!" I hung up the phone and Harry started laughing at me.

"How are you going to leave the past behind when it keeps getting to you Ron?"

"She just knows my weaknesses. It's like she reaches way down deep and tears me inside out until I'm torn apart." I sighed and sat down next to him. "How are you going to connect in an age different from the last time you really experienced it?"

"You get to use your camera to spar."

"You sound like an old fashioned knight you loser. Why don't you make music? Use your guitar to fight it." Harry looked over at me, his eyebrow raised.

"We're not going to pay the rent, are we?"

"No…and you know why!"

"Enlighten me."

"Because everything is rent! And we're broke."

A/N more coming soon, review please! I own nothing is all J K Rowling's or Jonathan Larson's

KaCcEe


	2. You Okay Honey?

A/N whoever's name is in brackets…it will be their POV...if it's not obvious. It's normally Ron's but when he's not around, we need someone else, do we not? On we go.

(Thomas) and the Seraph

I was lying on the cold ground coughing loudly, my chest hurt like a fucker. Those idiots had taken my bag and my coat. Who takes a coat? I heard steps coming towards me and was suddenly afraid they had come back to steal my hat too. Whoever it was knelt down beside me, and pulled me up to lean against the wall.

"You okay honey?" It was a very beautiful man. I was taken aback for a second.

"I'm afraid so." I said, wiping blood from my now broken nose.

"Did they get any money?"

"No. I had none for them to get. But they stole my coat." I looked in the direction they had run off to. "But they missed a sleeve." The man gave me a small towel and I wiped my face with it. "Thanks."

"Hell its Christmas eve…I'm Angel."

"Angel? Indeed." I replied as he passed me a bottle of water. I poured it over my head and rinsed the blood off. " Friend's call me Thomas…Dean Thomas."

"Nice to meet you Thomas. Let's get a band-aid for you knee. I need to change, there's a 'Wizard Support' group at 9:30." I looked at him surprised. "Yes…it's for people with AMIDS…people like me."

"Me too." I said with a slight smile.

"We'll get along fine. Let's guy you a coat, get a bite. Some lady just paid me to help her out…so I've got money."

"My friends are waiting." I motion to Harry and Ron's building down the block and blush as Angel smiles at me.

"You're cute when you blush. Anyways, the more the merrier! We'll get you cleaned up and then head along to meet them." I shake my head as he helped my up from my position on the concrete. "And I don't take 'no' as an answer." He smiles at me and we make our way down the alley.

A/N more to come…I don't mean it to be cut up by song, but when it keeps changing POV it might

K


	3. A Song and a Candle

Enter Mimi

I watched as Ron grabbed his old Hogwarts scarf, cloak and broom and walk towards the door. He looked a little depressed with his Wideo camera still attached to his hand, it wasn't on anymore.

"Where are you going?" I asked from my place on the couch. I sat still tuning the guitar…or trying to.

"Luna called…"

"You're such a sucker!" He shook his head sadly. "You're still in love with her." I hadn't paid a lot of attention to Ron recently, being too busy paying too much attention to myself.

"No I'm not." He said looking at me. "Really…I'm not."

"Then you're just whipped." He scowled.

"I don't suppose you'd like to see her show in the lot tonight?" I shrugged. "Or come to dinner? We're going to the Verve Café." I shook my head.

"Zoom in on my empty wallet."

"Touché…Take your TZA." He turned the camera on and faced it to himself. Thinking I couldn't hear, he explained the story to the 'folks a home' "Close on Harry, his girlfriend Katie left a note saying 'we've got AMIDS' before slitting her wrists in the bathroom." He turned the camera off again and looked back to me. "I'll check up on you later…change your mind though...you really should get out of the house okay?"

"Okay." I said, staring at my once able hands miserably. He walked out the door and it closed loudly behind him. I was used to being alone in here. I had spent the past year alone in this loft. Not entirely alone. Thomas was here for some of it…Luna…of course Ron. But they all left from time to time. I had been trying to get over my addiction to Floo Powder. It took a while for wizards to notice (and acknowledge) the hallucinogenic and enjoyable qualities of Floo Powder. Weak when inhaled but insane when injected, my days as a band member had relied heavily on use of Floo Powder. I sighed and strummed my guitar.

"I'm writing one great song before I…die." I scowled. This disease ate away at you sooner or later. It was appearing to be sooner. I started to play an old ballady song that I used to play. I knew I was going crazy when I started to talk to myself. "One song…it'll bring me that glory I've lost. Just one song before I go. Just one great song to leave behind…I need to find that one song, one last refrain. I need to shed this image of a pretty boy front man who wasted opportunity. I had the world at my feet. I was everything in the eyes of a young girl. Fuck."

I stood up and walked towards the window. I opened them and stepped out onto the fire escape. I sat down and let my feet dangle down the steps, my ass freezing on the cold metal. "I need to find glory beyond the cheap colored lights, just one song before the sun sets. Some glory in another empty life." I shook my head and stopped played the guitar. "I can find glory in a song that rings true, truth like a blazing fire, an eternal flame. I know! A song about love. The most famous songs ever written were love songs from the souls of young men. I'm a young man...I need to find that one song before the virus takes hold like a sunset. That song will redeem this empty life."

I stood up again, the cold having reached my bones. I walked quietly inside and set my guitar on the table. I sighed. "Time flies and then I won't have to endure this anymore. Time hurts. Time dies eventually." I heard a loud knock at the door.

I knew it was Ron. He had tossed his key down to Thomas and had forgotten to take mine. He must've forgotten something when he went to meet Luna. She probably reamed him out for forgetting it too…the bitch.

"What'd you forget?" I said before I even looked at who was standing in the doorway. It was a girl; A very familiar looking girl.

"Got a light?" She said holding up a half burned down candle. I nodded and she walked in.

"I know you don't I?" She just looked at me with wide brown eyes, she was shaking. "You're shivering."

"It's nothing, they turned off my heat."

"Mine too." I gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I'm just a little weak on my feet tonight. Would you light my candle?" She held the candle up again, but I couldn't take my eyes off her face. "What are you staring at?" She said slightly self-consciously.

"Nothing." I replied quickly. She looked skeptical. "You're hair in the moonlight."

"You're a charmer."

"You look familiar." I say as I light a match and light her candle, my wand was across the room. She smiles and starts to walk away but stumbles a little. I reach out and steady her elbow. "Can you make it back to your apartment?"

"I just haven't eaten much today…no money. At least the room stopped spinning. Anyway..." She smiled and I stared again. "What?"

"Nothing." I said again, mentally slapping myself for being a creep. "Your smile reminded me of…" She scoffed and walked towards the windows, looking out on the freezing London night.

"I always 'remind people of'. Who is she?" She looked back at me, the moonlight framing her curls.

"She died." I said looking at the floor again. The girl started to walk towards the other side of the apartment, her back to me. "Her name was Katie." She turned back to me, the flame once again extinguished.

"It's out again." She walked back and held her hand out again. "Sorry about your friend, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd light my candle." I lit it and neither of us had anything to stay. We stood there awkwardly and just as I was about to say goodbye:

"Ow!" She pulled one of her hands away from the candle. I smiled for the distraction.

"Oh the wax….it's…"

"Dripping." She continued. "I like it between my…" She slid up to me and I pulled away. I'm not going to say I wasn't attracted, but I wasn't ready.

"Fingers! I figured." I said quickly, as to not hear anything too personal. "Oh well. Goodnight." I say as she walks towards the door. It closes and I breathe a sigh of relief. Women are scarier than you'd imagine. I walked back to the table and picked up my guitar when there was another knock. I opened the door and she stood there patting her pockets, a snuffed candle in hand. "It blew out again?" I asked. She looked up as if I had surprised her. She breezed right past be into the loft.

"No. I think that I dropped my stash." She still looked so familiar to me and I just couldn't place it.

"I know I've seen you out and about when I used to go out." I said as she looked around franticly. "You candle's out." I said. She looked down at it and shrugged; I walked over and lit it for her.

"I had it when I walked in the door. It was Grumman's. Is it on the floor?" She dropped herself down and started looking, giving me a fantastic view of her assets.

"The floor?" She glanced back and saw me looking at her.

"They say that I've got the best ass below Serpent Street Do you think it's true?"

"What?" This girl was so brash, I couldn't believe it.

"You're staring again." She pointed out. I was getting flustered.

"Oh no…I mean…you do…have a nice…" I blushed and she grinned at me. "I mean…you look familiar."

"Like your dead girlfriend."

"Only when you smile…but I'm sure I've seen you somewhere else."

"Do you ever go to the Witch's Britches? That's where I work…I dance." She looked up at me anxiously. "Help me look!"

"Yes!" I said as I now knew where I knew her from…well, the most recent place I knew her from. I was starting to thing she was Hermione come back from wherever she had disappeared to. "They used to tie you up." I continued on with the memory from the strip club.

"It's a living." She said defensively, looking under the couch.

"I didn't recognize you without the handcuffs." Her head whipped back and she scowled at me, her candle was out again.

"Will you light my candle again please?" She said, holding it up to me. I grabbed another match and lit it. We returned to the floor to look for her Floo Powder.

"Why don't you forget that stuff? You look like you're sixteen."

"I'm twenty two! But I'm old for my age. I'm just born to be bad."

"I once was born to be bad." I said, standing up as she did the same. "I used to shiver like that."

"I have no heat, I told you."

"I used to sweat." I had noticed she was perspiring when she'd slid up next to me earlier.

"I have a cold." She said nonchalantly.

"Uh huh." I didn't believe her for a second. "I used to be a junkie."

"Now and then I like to feel good, that's all." Then I spotted the little bag on the floor.

"Here it…" I decided then that I wasn't going to give it to her, she should stop taking it. She looked over at me from the other side of the table.

"What's that?"

"Just a chocolate frog wrapper." I slyly put it behind my back and into my jeans pocket. She started to walk towards me.

"You know…we could light our own candle." She wrapped her arms around my neck and I discreetly blew out her candle on the way. "Hey! What'd you do with my candle?" I slid down onto the couch, not letting her near my back pocket.

"That was my last match, and I've lost my wand."

"Our eyes will adjust; thank god the moon's come out." She sat down next to me and smiled.

"Maybe it's not the moon at all." I said looking at her, my arms crossed against my chest. "I hear someone's shooting the next Paris Blockbuster down the street."

"Oh bah humbug." She put her hand down on my arm and grabbed my hand, still smiling sweetly. "Cold hands." I remarked, since they were freezing.

"Yours too." She said, sticking her tongue out. "They're big…like my fathers. Do you want to dance?" She pulled me up off the couch.

"With you?" I was trying to keep her away from my pockets still; she was twirling around and making it difficult.

"No, with my father." She said sarcastically. I smiled.

"I'm Harry." I explained. She lent in as if to kiss me but instead reached around to my back pocket. I felt her grab the baggie and I sighed.

"They call me Mimi." She held the baggie out in front of her and walked towards the door. She turned around before leaving and I just stared at her. "See you around." She closed the door behind her and I walked back to the table to grab my guitar.

A/N So there's a nice longer chapter. I'm trying to stick more to the play than to the movie so there's going to be some stuff that all you movie goers don't recognize. Enjoy because I'm certainly enjoying writing it (just took me awhile to get back to it.)

K


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